TIMEMACHINE

In this VR documentary 10 year old Rena talks directly to you, her future self. She will not get to see what you’ll be seeing until 2038, when she will travel back in time and meet herself as a kid. What about Rena’s life in 2018, should her 30 year old self absolutely know about? What does she think her life will be like when she grows up?

Time Machine uses a combination of techniques that enlarge the feeling of immersion, including photogrammetry and volumetric video. Together with animated 3D drawings from Rena, this creates a romanticized but almost real opportunity for Rena 20 years from now to travel through time.

  • Nikki van Sprundel
    Director
    http://www.nikkivansprundel.nl/
  • Nikki van Sprundel
    Writer
  • Frederik Lassen
    Creative Producer
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederiklassen/
  • Aron Fels
    Visual Design & Development
    http://www.aronfels.nl/
  • Dajo Brinkman
    Technical Director
    https://capturecake.com
  • Big Orange
    Sound Design
    https://experiences.big-orange.nl/
  • Rena
    Key Cast
    "Rena"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Virtual Reality
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 20, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    Netherlands
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • VR DAYS
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    October 25, 2018
    European
    Official Selection for the VR CHURCH
  • Curta Brasilia - International short film festival
    Brasilia
    Brazil
    December 19, 2018
    South American premiere
Director Biography - Nikki van Sprundel

Time Machine is part of the creative research of VR director Nikki van Sprundel, in which she explores ways to get a viewer to engage more with characters in a VR documentary story. She teaches the results of this research at The Netherlands Film Academy and is available to speak about it on stage.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The real time machine concept enables the viewer to have a role within the story. This means your presence is confirmed and results in an enlarged feeling of immersion. Letting the viewer be part of a story is already often done in fictional VR. However, most live action VR documentaries are still putting the viewer inside a scene without acknowledging their presence, like is the custom in 2D documentaries. In 2D documentary being a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ means getting closer to a subject by becoming invisible. This works because the medium itself doesn’t imply presence of the viewer within the space, like VR does.

Being invisible in VR often creates a distance between the viewer and the subject. Time Machine is one of few VR experiences to include the viewer in a live action documentary story and thereby explores a new way to document people.